The Frog Princess by E.D. Baker

  

The Locale: Kate & Brenda’s Home 

The Book: This debut novel follows the adventures of 14-year-old Princess Emeralda and the talking frog she meets one day in a swamp. The frog begs her to give him a kiss so that he will turn back into Prince Eadric, his identity before an evil witch turned him into an amphibian. When the young royal obliges, she, too, is transformed into a frog, and the two leap off in search of the spell-casting witch to ask her to reverse her handiwork. Describing the duo's futile quest in laborious detail, the author pads her tale with some curiously drab characters, including another witch (who hopes to use Emeralda and Eadric in a spell she's concocting) and a bat and snake who reside in her cottage. The tale occasionally offers peppy dialogue and some comical scenes-particularly as the newly transformed Emeralda adjusts to catching flies with her tongue.

The Fun: What a fun day, and what a fun way to end our meetings for the school year! Brenda & Kate outdid themselves, starting with the creative titles for the delicious refreshments (see below). After the initial “hello’s” and munching, for the first activity, the girls broke up into three groups and were given the task of creating their own magical spell.

• Group One:  Kate, Perri, & Megan 
• Group Two:  Inkary & Emma 
• Group Three:  Olivia & Cassie 

The spell rules - the spells had to have a minimum of four lines and rhyme. After creating their spells, the girls had to read their spells for the entire group which had to guess what the spells did. The spells were FAB-A-MUNDO! Very creative and thoughtful.

Group 1
A Spell to Stop Poachers
Poachers Big; Poachers Small
Poachers Short; Poachers Tall
Come Together All of Y’all
Stop Drinking Root Beer
and Definitely Stop Killing Deer

Group 2 

A Spell to Make a Shelter 

With this Spell I Say in Delight 

Make a Shelter to Stay in Tonight 

Don’t Make it too Cold 

Don’t Make it too Hot 

But Make Sure I Like it a lot!

Group 3

 A Hair Detangler Spell
Shampoo, Condition, and Take it Out!My Knot is Very Big & Stout
Using Dragon’s Breath & Oil of Seal
Make this Knot so small
That I cannot Feel!

The Fun Continued: After sharing their spells, the girls played a bean bag tossing game, bouncing frog bean bags off a mini frog trampoline onto pads numbered 1-6. Staying in their teams, if their frog bean bags landed on a numbered lily pad, the teams answered questions about the book and earn points. After five rounds--the girl’s REALLY enjoyed this competition--team 1 had earned about 20 points and won the competition.

The girls then had a mini-discussion about the book. Most of the girls loved it; the mom’s--not so much. But it was decided for most young ladies, this would be the perfect beach read.

The festivities ended with Toilet Paper Brides. The girls broke up into two groups, dressed their model in a haute couture designed from toilet paper, which of course, was modeled for the moms. I’m sure Brenda & Kate had fun cleaning up that mess!

The Food: Kate and Brenda got VERY creative with their food and dish titles. We ate Magic Wand Sandwiches (egg, pimento, and PBJ on star shaped bread), Dragon’s Breath Punch, Swampy Dirt Dessert, and Princess Emeralda Cake. Yum, Yum!

The Vote: Starting at the beginning of our rotation, and starting off our second year together, Olivia presented the following books:

• The Magician’s Nephew, the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia Series, by C.S. Lewis 
• Hoot by Carl Hiaasen 
• The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart 

To Vote, the girls closed their eyes and/or put their heads down. As I called out the girl’s name, each girl raised her hand, indicating their choice by holding up one, two, or three fingers. After the first round, there was a tie between The Magician’s Nephew and The Mysterious Benedict Society. Megan, who cast the only vote for Hoot got to break the tie by changing her vote to the The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. The meeting at Olivia and Susan’s is planned for September 25th.

Up Next: The Bad Beginning--The first book in the A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket at Smith & Elizabeth’s house on August 28th. And don’t forget the challenge to read as many of the entire series, starting with number one, as possible.